Albrecht Dürer ( ,
;
; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),
[Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. .] sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German
painter
Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...
,
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...
, and
theorist
A theory is a systematic and rational form of abstract thinking about a phenomenon, or the conclusions derived from such thinking. It involves contemplative and logical reasoning, often supported by processes such as observation, experimentation, ...
of the
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...
. Born in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality
woodcut prints. He was in contact with the major Italian artists of his time, including
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
,
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...
and
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
, and from 1512 was patronized by
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
Maximilian I.
Dürer's vast body of work includes
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
s, his preferred technique in his later prints,
altarpieces, portraits and self-portraits,
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...
s and books. The woodcuts series are stylistically more
Gothic than the rest of his work, but revolutionised the potential of that medium, while his extraordinary handling of the
burin expanded especially the tonal range of his engravings; well-known engravings include the three ''
Meisterstiche'' (master prints) ''
Knight, Death and the Devil'' (1513), ''
Saint Jerome in his Study'' (1514), and ''
Melencolia I'' (1514). His watercolours mark him as one of the first European
landscape artists.
Dürer's introduction of
classical motifs and of the
nude
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of pre-history, anatomically modern humans were naked, having lost their body hair, living in hospitable climates, and no ...
into Northern art, through his knowledge of
Italian artists and
German humanists, has secured his reputation as one of the most important figures of the
Northern Renaissance
The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps, developing later than the Italian Renaissance, and in most respects only beginning in the last years of the 15th century. It took different forms in the vari ...
. This is reinforced by his theoretical treatises, which involve principles of mathematics for
linear perspective and
body proportions.
Biography
Early life (1471–1490)

Dürer was born on 21 May 1471, the third child and second son of Albrecht Dürer the Elder and Barbara Holper, who married in 1467.
[Brand Philip & Anzelewsky (1978–79), 11.] Albrecht Dürer the Elder (originally Albrecht Ajtósi) was a successful
goldsmith
A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...
who by 1455 had moved to Nuremberg from
Ajtós, near
Gyula in
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
.
He married Barbara, his master's daughter, when he himself qualified as a master.
Her mother, Klinga Öllinger had some roots in Hungary too, as she was born in
Sopron
Sopron (; , ) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
In the Iron Age a hilltop settlement with a burial ground existed in the neighbourhood of Sopron-Várhely.
When ...
. The couple had eighteen children together, of which only three survived.
Hans Dürer (1490–1534), also became a painter, trained under the older Albrecht. The other surviving brother, Endres Dürer (1484–1555), took over their father's business and was a master goldsmith.
[Brion (1960), 16.] The German name "Dürer" is a translation from the Hungarian, "Ajtósi".
Initially, it was "Türer", meaning doormaker, which is "ajtós" in Hungarian (from "ajtó", meaning door). A door is featured in the
coat-of-arms the family acquired. Albrecht Dürer the Younger later changed "Türer", his father's diction of the family's surname, to "Dürer", to adapt to the local Nuremberg dialect.
[Bartrum, 93, n. 1.]
Because Dürer left autobiographical writings and was widely known by his mid-twenties, his life is well documented. After a few years of school, Dürer learned the basics of goldsmithing and drawing from his father. Though his father wanted him to continue his training as a goldsmith, he showed such a precocious talent in drawing that he was allowed to start as an apprentice to
Michael Wolgemut at the age of fifteen in 1486.
[Brand Philip & Anzelewsky (1978–79), 10.] A self-portrait, a drawing in
silverpoint
Silverpoint (one of several types of metalpoint) is a traditional drawing technique and tool first used by medieval scribes on manuscripts.
History
A silverpoint drawing is made by dragging a silver rod or wire across a surface, often prepared ...
, is dated 1484 (
Albertina, Vienna) "when I was a child", as his later inscription says. The drawing is one of the earliest surviving children's drawings of any kind, and, as Dürer's Opus One, has helped define his oeuvre as deriving from, and always linked to, himself.
[ Joseph Koerner, ''The Moment of Self-Portraiture in Renaissance Art'', University of Chicago Press, 1993.] Wolgemut was the leading artist in Nuremberg at the time, with a large workshop producing a variety of works of art, in particular woodcuts for books. Nuremberg was then an important and prosperous city, a centre for publishing and many luxury trades. It had strong links with
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, especially
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
, a relatively short distance across the
Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
.
Dürer's godfather
Anton Koberger left goldsmithing to become a printer and publisher in the year of Dürer's birth. He became the most successful publisher in Germany, eventually owning twenty-four
printing-press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
es and a number of offices in Germany and abroad. Koberger's most famous publication was the ''
Nuremberg Chronicle
The ''Nuremberg Chronicle'' is an illustrated encyclopedia consisting of world historical accounts, as well as accounts told through biblical paraphrase. Subjects include human history in relation to the Bible, illustrated mythological creatures, ...
'', published in 1493 in German and Latin editions. It contained an unprecedented 1,809
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
illustrations (albeit with many repeated uses of the same block) by the Wolgemut workshop. Dürer may have worked on some of these, as the work on the project began while he was with Wolgemut.
[ Giulia Bartrum, ''Albrecht Dürer and his Legacy'', British Museum Press, 2002, .]
''Wanderjahre'' and marriage (1490–1494)

After completing his apprenticeship, Dürer followed the common German custom of taking ''
Wanderjahre''—in effect
gap year
A gap year, also known as a sabbatical year, is a period of time when students take a break from their studies, usually after completing high school or before beginning graduate school. During this time, students engage in a variety of educatio ...
s—in which the apprentice learned skills from other masters, their local tradition and individual styles; Dürer was to spend about four years away. He left in 1490, possibly to work under
Martin Schongauer
Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–53, Colmar – 2 February 1491, Breisach), also known as Martin Schön ("Martin beautiful") or Hübsch Martin ("pretty Martin") by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter. He was the most important ...
, the leading engraver of Northern Europe, but who died shortly before Dürer's arrival at
Colmar
Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...
in 1492. It is unclear where Dürer travelled in the intervening period, though it is likely that he went to
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
and the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. In Colmar, Dürer was welcomed by Schongauer's brothers, the goldsmiths Caspar and Paul and the painter Ludwig. Later that year, Dürer travelled to
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
to stay with another brother of Martin Schongauer, the goldsmith Georg. In 1493 Dürer went to
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
, where he would have experienced the sculpture of
Nikolaus Gerhaert. Dürer's first painted self-portrait (now in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
) was painted at this time, probably to be sent back to his fiancée in Nuremberg.
Very soon after his return to Nuremberg, on 7 July 1494, at the age of 23, Dürer was married to
Agnes Frey following an arrangement made during his absence. Agnes was the daughter of a prominent brass worker (and amateur harpist) in the city. However, no children resulted from the marriage, and with Albrecht the Dürer name died out. The marriage between Agnes and Albrecht was believed not to be a generally happy one, as indicated by a letter of Dürer in which he quipped to
Willibald Pirckheimer in a rough tone about his wife, calling her an "old crow" and made other vulgar remarks. Pirckheimer also made no secret of his antipathy towards Agnes, describing her as a miserly shrew with a bitter tongue, who helped cause Dürer's death at a relatively young age.
It has been hypothesized by many scholars that Albrecht was bisexual or homosexual, due to the recurrence of allegedly homoerotic themes in some of his works (e.g. ''The Men's Bath''), and the nature of his correspondence with close friends.
First journey to Italy (1494–1495)
Within three months of his marriage, Dürer left for Italy, alone, perhaps prompted by an outbreak of
plague in Nuremberg. He made watercolour sketches as he traveled over the Alps. Some have survived and others may be deduced from accurate landscapes of real places in his later work, for example his engraving ''Nemesis''.
In Italy, he went to Venice to study its more advanced artistic world.
[Lee, Raymond L. & Alistair B. Fraser. (2001) ''The Rainbow Bridge'', Penn State Press. .] Through Wolgemut's tutelage, Dürer had learned how to make prints in
drypoint
Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...
and design woodcuts in the German style, based on the works of Schongauer and the
Housebook Master
Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two names used for an engraver and painter working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century. He is apparently the first artist to use drypoint, a form of engravin ...
.
He also would have had access to some Italian works in Germany, but the two visits he made to Italy had an enormous influence on him. He wrote that
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 29 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father, ...
was the oldest and still the best of the artists in Venice. His drawings and engravings show the influence of others, notably
Antonio del Pollaiuolo, with his interest in the proportions of the body;
Lorenzo di Credi; and
Andrea Mantegna
Andrea Mantegna (, ; ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian Renaissance painter, a student of Ancient Rome, Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini.
Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with Perspective (graphical), pe ...
, whose work he produced copies of while training. Dürer probably also visited
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
and
Mantua
Mantua ( ; ; Lombard language, Lombard and ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, eponymous province.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the "Italian Capital of Culture". In 2 ...
on this trip.
Return to Nuremberg (1495–1505)
On his return to
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
in 1495, Dürer opened his own workshop (being married was a requirement for this). Over the next five years, his style increasingly integrated Italian influences into underlying Northern forms. Arguably his best works in the first years of the workshop were his woodcut prints, mostly religious, but including secular scenes such as ''The Men's Bath'' (). These were larger and more finely cut than the great majority of German woodcuts hitherto, and far more complex and balanced in composition.
It is now thought unlikely that Dürer cut any of the woodblocks himself; this task would have been performed by a specialist craftsman. However, his training in Wolgemut's studio, which made many carved and painted altarpieces and both designed and cut woodblocks for woodcut, evidently gave him great understanding of what the technique could be made to produce, and how to work with block cutters. Dürer either drew his design directly onto the woodblock itself, or glued a paper drawing to the block. Either way, his drawings were destroyed during the cutting of the block.
His series of sixteen designs for the ''Apocalypse'' is dated 1498, as is his engraving of ''
St. Michael Fighting the Dragon''. He made the first seven scenes of the ''Great Passion'' in the same year, and a little later, a series of eleven on the
Holy Family
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...
and saints. The ''
Seven Sorrows Polyptych'', commissioned by
Frederick III of Saxony in 1496, was executed by Dürer and his assistants c. 1500. In 1502, Dürer's father died. Around 1503–1505 Dürer produced the first 17 of a set illustrating the ''
Life of the Virgin'', which he did not finish for some years. Neither these nor the ''Great Passion'' were published as sets until several years later, but prints were sold individually in considerable numbers.
During the same period Dürer perfected the difficult art of using the
burin to make engravings. Most likely he had learned this skill during his early training with his father, as it was also an essential skill of the goldsmith. In 1496 he executed the ''Prodigal Son'', which the Italian Renaissance art historian
Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...
singled out for praise some decades later, noting its Germanic quality. He was soon producing some spectacular and original images, notably ''Nemesis'' (1502), ''The Sea Monster'' (1498), and ''Saint Eustace'' (), with a highly detailed landscape background and animals. His landscapes of this period, such as ''Pond in the Woods'' and ''Willow Mill'', are quite different from his earlier watercolours. There is a much greater emphasis on capturing atmosphere, rather than depicting topography. He made a number of
Madonna
Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...
s, single religious figures, and small scenes with comic peasant figures. Prints are highly portable and these works made Dürer famous throughout the main artistic centres of Europe within a very few years.
The Venetian artist
Jacopo de' Barbari Jacopo (also Iacopo) is a masculine Italian given name, derivant from Latin ''Iacōbus''. It is an Italian variant of Giacomo ( James in English).
* Jacopo Aconcio (), Italian religious reformer
* Jacopo Bassano (1592), Italian painter
* Iac ...
, whom Dürer had met in Venice, visited Nuremberg in 1500, and Dürer said that he learned much about the new developments in
perspective,
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
, and
proportion from him.
To Dürer it seemed that De' Barbari was unwilling to explain everything he knew, so he began his own studies, which would become a lifelong preoccupation. A series of extant drawings show Dürer's experiments in human proportion, leading to the famous engraving of ''
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
'' (1504), which shows his subtlety while using the burin in the texturing of flesh surfaces.
This is the only existing engraving signed with his full name.
Dürer created large numbers of preparatory drawings, especially for his paintings and engravings, and many survive, most famously the ''
Betende Hände'' (''Praying Hands'') from circa 1508, a study for an apostle in the Heller altarpiece. He continued to make images in watercolour and
bodycolour (usually combined), including a number of still lifes of meadow sections or animals, including his ''
Young Hare'' (1502) and the ''
Great Piece of Turf'' (1503).
Albrecht Dürer - The Men’s Bath - Google Art Project.jpg, The Men's Bath, , woodcut, 39.2 × 28.3 cm, (Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...
)
10 The Prodigal Son.jpg, ''The Prodigal Son'' (1496), copper engraving, 24.7 × 19.1 cm ( Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504, Engraving.jpg, ''Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
'' (1504), copper engraving, 29.8 × 21.1 cm ( Morgan Library & Museum, New York)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Hare, 1502 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Young Hare'', 1502, watercolour and gouache, 25 × 22.5 cm, Albertina, Vienna
Albrecht Dürer - The Large Piece of Turf, 1503 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Large Piece of Turf'' (1503), watercolour and gouache w/highlighting, 40,8 × 31,5 cm, Albertina
Albrecht Dürer - Praying Hands, 1508 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Praying Hands'' (), brush, ink and gray wash
Wash or the Wash may refer to:
Industry and sanitation
* WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues
* Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages
...
on blue paper, 29.1 × 19.7 cm, Albertina
Second journey to Italy (1505–1507)
In Italy, he returned to painting, at first producing a series of works executed in
tempera
Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...
on
linen
Linen () is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant.
Linen is very strong and absorbent, and it dries faster than cotton. Because of these properties, linen is comfortable to wear in hot weather and is valued for use in garments. Lin ...
. These include portraits and altarpieces, notably, the
Paumgartner altarpiece
The ''Paumgartner altarpiece'' (c. 1500) is an early triptych painting by Albrecht Dürer, commissioned by the Paumgartner family of Nuremberg. The central panel depicts a Nativity of Jesus in art, nativity scene, while the wings depict Saint Ge ...
and the ''
Adoration of the Magi''. In early 1506, he returned to Venice and stayed there until the spring of 1507.
It was in Venice that he took up the material of
blue paper, which he used to execute preparatory drawing for paintings he completed there in 1505–1507. By this time Dürer's engravings had attained great popularity and were being copied. In Venice he was given a valuable commission from the emigrant German community for the church of
San Bartolomeo. This was the altar-piece known as the ''
Feast of the Rosary'' (or the ''Feast of Rose Garlands''). It shows
Pope Julius II
Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...
and
Emperor Maximilian I, peacefully kneeling in adoration before her throne, both with their crowns taken off. It also includes portraits of members of Venice's German community and of Dürer himself on the upper right holding a designation of his authorship. Besides the
Flemish verism in the depiction of the greenery and the garments, and the use of his own hues, the altar-piece shows a strong Italian influence. It was later acquired by the Emperor
Rudolf II
Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the H ...
and taken to Prague.
Nuremberg and the masterworks (1507–1520)
Dürer returned to Nuremberg by mid-1507, remaining in Germany until 1520. His reputation had spread throughout Europe and he was on friendly terms and in communication with many of the major artists including
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
.
Between 1507 and 1511 Dürer worked on some of his most celebrated paintings: ''
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
'' (1507), ''
Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand'' (1508, for Frederick of Saxony), ''Virgin with the Iris'' (1508), the altarpiece ''Assumption of the Virgin'' (1509, for Jacob Heller of Frankfurt), and ''
Adoration of the Trinity'' (1511, for Matthaeus Landauer). During this period he also completed two woodcut series, the ''Great Passion'' and the ''Life of the Virgin'', both published in 1511 together with a second edition of the ''Apocalypse'' series. The post-Venetian woodcuts show Dürer's development of
chiaroscuro
In art, chiaroscuro ( , ; ) is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to ach ...
modelling effects, creating a mid-tone throughout the print to which the highlights and shadows can be contrasted. Other works from this period include the thirty-seven ''Little Passion'' woodcuts, published in 1511, and a set of fifteen small engravings on the same theme in 1512. Complaining that painting did not make enough money to justify the time spent when compared to his prints, he produced no paintings from 1513 to 1516. In 1513 and 1514 Dürer created his three most famous
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...
s: ''
Knight, Death and the Devil'' (1513, probably based on
Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and Catholic theology, theologian, educationalist ...
's ''
Handbook of a Christian Knight
The ''Handbook of the Christian Knight'' (), sometimes translated as ''The Manual of the Christian Knight'' or ''The Handbook of the Christian Soldier'' or just the Enchiridion, is a work written by Dutch scholar Erasmus, Erasmus of Rotterdam in ...
''), ''
St. Jerome in His Study'', and the much-debated ''
Melencolia I'' (both 1514, the year Dürer's mother died). Further outstanding pen and ink drawings of Dürer's period of art work of 1513 were drafts for his friend Pirckheimer. These drafts were later used to design
Lusterweibchen chandeliers, combining an
antler
Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...
with a wooden sculpture.
In 1515, he created his ''
woodcut of a Rhinoceros'' which had arrived in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
from a written description and sketch by another artist, without ever seeing the animal himself. An image of the
Indian rhinoceros
The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, great Indian rhinoceros or Indian rhino, is a species of rhinoceros found in the Indian subcontinent. It is the second largest living rhinocer ...
, the image has such force that it remains one of his best-known and was still used in some German school science text-books as late as last century.
In the years leading to 1520 he produced a wide range of works, including the woodblocks for the first western printed star charts in 1515 and portraits in tempera on linen in 1516. His only experiments with
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...
came in this period, producing five between 1515–1516 and a sixth in 1518; a technique he may have abandoned as unsuited to his aesthetic of methodical, classical form.
Patronage of Maximilian I
From 1512,
Maximilian I became Dürer's major patron. He commissioned ''
The Triumphal Arch'', a vast work printed from 192 separate blocks, the symbolism of which is partly informed by Pirckheimer's translation of
Horapollo Horapollo (from Horus Apollo; ) (5th century?) is the supposed author of a treatise, titled ''Hieroglyphica'', on Egyptian hieroglyphs, extant in a Byzantine Greek language, Greek translation by one Philippus, also dating to 5th century.
Life
Hora ...
's ''Hieroglyphica''. The design program and explanations were devised by
Johannes Stabius, the architectural design by the master builder and court-painter Jörg Kölderer and the woodcutting itself by
Hieronymous Andreae, with Dürer as designer-in-chief. ''The Arch'' was followed by ''
The Triumphal Procession'' completed c. 1512.
Dürer worked with pen on the marginal images for an edition of the Emperor's printed prayer book; these were quite unknown until facsimiles were published in 1808 as part of the first book published in
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
. Dürer's work on the book was halted for an unknown reason, and the decoration was continued by artists including
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...
and
Hans Baldung. Dürer also made several portraits of the Emperor, including one shortly before Maximilian's death in 1519.
Maximilian was a very cash-strapped prince who sometimes failed to pay, yet turned out to be Dürer's most important patron. In his court, artists and learned men were respected, which was not common at that time (later, Dürer commented that in Germany, as a non-noble, he was treated as a parasite). Pirckheimer (who he met in 1495, before entering the service of Maximilian) was also an important personage in the court and great cultural patron, who had a strong influence on Dürer as his tutor in classical knowledge and humanistic critical methodology, as well as collaborator. In Maximilian's court, Dürer also collaborated with a great number of other brilliant artists and scholars of the time who became his friends, like
Johannes Stabius,
Konrad Peutinger
Konrad Peutinger (; 14 October 1465 – 28 December 1547) was a German Humanism, humanist, jurist, diplomat, politician, economist and archaeologist, serving as Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor Maximilian I's chief archaeological adviser. ...
,
Conrad Celtes, and Hans Tscherte (an imperial architect).
Dürer was proud of his ability. When the emperor tried to sketch Dürer an idea on charcoa, Dürer took the material from Maximilian's hand, finished the drawing and told him: "This is my scepter." On another occasion, Maximilian noticed that the ladder Dürer used was too short and unstable, thus told a noble to hold it for him. The noble refused, saying that it was beneath him to serve a non-noble. Maximilian then came to hold the ladder himself, and told the noble that he could make a noble out of a peasant any day, but he could not make an artist like Dürer out of a noble.
This story and a 1849 painting depicting it by have become relevant recently. This nineteenth-century painting shows Dürer painting a mural at
St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna. Apparently, this reflects a seventeenth-century "artists' legend" about the previously mentioned encounter (in which the emperor held the ladder) – that this encounter corresponds with the period Dürer was working on the Viennese murals. In 2020, during restoration work, art connoisseurs discovered a piece of handwriting now attributed to Dürer, suggesting that the Nuremberg master had actually participated in creating the murals at St. Stephen's Cathedral. In the recent 2022 Dürer exhibition in Nuremberg (in which the drawing technique is also traced and connected to Dürer's other works), the identity of the commissioner is discussed. Now the painting of Siegert (and the legend associated with it) is used as evidence to suggest that this was Maximilian. Dürer is historically recorded to have entered the emperor's service in 1511, and the mural's date is calculated to be around 1505, but it is possible they have known and worked with each other earlier than 1511.
Cartographic and astronomical works
Dürer's exploration of space led to a relationship and cooperation with the court astronomer
Johannes Stabius. Stabius also often acted as Dürer's and Maximilian's go-between for their financial problems.
In 1515 Dürer and Stabius created the first world map projected on a solid geometric sphere. Also in 1515, Stabius, Dürer and the astronomer produced the first planispheres of both southern and northerns hemispheres, as well as the first printed celestial maps, which prompted the revival of interest in the field of
uranometry throughout Europe.
Journey to the Netherlands (1520–1521)
Maximilian's death came at a time when Dürer was concerned he was losing "my sight and freedom of hand" (perhaps caused by arthritis) and increasingly affected by the writings of
Martin Luther
Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...
. In July 1520 Dürer made his fourth and last major journey, to renew the Imperial pension Maximilian had given him and to secure the patronage of the new emperor,
Charles V, who was to be crowned at
Aachen
Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants.
Aachen is locat ...
. Dürer journeyed with his wife and her maid via the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
to
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
and then to
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
, where he was well received and produced numerous drawings in silverpoint, chalk and charcoal. In addition to attending the coronation, he visited Cologne (where he admired the painting of
Stefan Lochner
Stefan Lochner (the ''Dombild Master'' or ''Master Stefan''; c. 1410 – late 1451) was a German painter working in the late International Gothic period. His paintings combine that era's tendency toward long flowing lines and brilliant colours ...
),
Nijmegen
Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...
,
's-Hertogenbosch
s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...
,
Bruges
Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country.
The area of the whole city amoun ...
(where he saw
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
's ''
Madonna of Bruges''),
Ghent
Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...
(where he admired
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck ( ; ; – 9 July 1441) was a Flemish people, Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Nort ...
's ''
Ghent Altarpiece
The ''Ghent Altarpiece'', also called the ''Adoration of the Mystic Lamb'' (), is a very large and complex 15th-century polyptych altarpiece in St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. It was begun around the mid-1420s and completed by 1432, and it ...
''), and
Zeeland
Zeeland (; ), historically known in English by the Endonym and exonym, exonym Zealand, is the westernmost and least populous province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the southwest of the country, borders North Brabant to the east ...
.
Dürer took a large stock of prints with him and wrote in his diary to whom he gave, exchanged or sold them, and for how much. This provides rare information of the monetary value placed on prints at this time. Unlike paintings, their sale was very rarely documented. While providing valuable documentary evidence, Dürer's Netherlandish diary also reveals that the trip was not a profitable one. For example, Dürer offered his last portrait of Maximilian to his daughter,
Margaret of Austria, but eventually traded the picture for some white cloth after Margaret disliked the portrait and declined to accept it. During this trip he also met
Bernard van Orley,
Jan Provoost,
Gerard Horenbout,
Jean Mone,
Joachim Patinir
Joachim Patinir, also called Patenier ( – 5 October 1524), was a Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Flemish Renaissance painter of History painting, history and Landscape painting, landscape subjects. He was Flanders, Flemish, from the ar ...
and
Tommaso Vincidor, though he did not, it seems, meet
Quentin Matsys.
Having secured his pension, Dürer returned home in July 1521, having caught an undetermined illness, which afflicted him for the rest of his life, and greatly reduced his rate of work.
Final years, Nuremberg (1521–1528)
On his return to Nuremberg, Dürer worked on a number of grand projects with religious themes, including a crucifixion scene and a , though neither was completed. This may have been due in part to his declining health, but perhaps also because of the time he gave to the preparation of his theoretical works on geometry and perspective, the proportions of men and horses, and
fortification
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...
.
However, one consequence of this shift in emphasis was that during the last years of his life, Dürer produced comparatively little as an artist. In painting, there was only a portrait of
Hieronymus Holtzschuher, a
''Madonna and Child'' (1526),
''Salvator Mundi'' (1526), and two panels showing
St. John with St. Peter and
St. Paul with St. Mark beside him. This last great work, ''
the Four Apostles'', was given by Dürer to the City of Nuremberg—although he was given 100 guilders in return.
As for engravings, Dürer's work was restricted to portraits and illustrations for his treatise. The portraits include his boyhood friend
Willibald Pirckheimer, Cardinal-Elector
Albert of Mainz;
Frederick the Wise, elector of Saxony;
Philipp Melanchthon
Philip Melanchthon (born Philipp Schwartzerdt; 16 February 1497 – 19 April 1560) was a German Lutheran reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, an intellectual leader of the ...
, and
Erasmus of Rotterdam
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus ( ; ; 28 October c. 1466 – 12 July 1536), commonly known in English as Erasmus of Rotterdam or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Christian humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, educationalist, satirist, and p ...
. For those of
the Cardinal
''The Cardinal'' is a 1963 American drama film produced independently, directed by Otto Preminger and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The screenplay was written by Robert Dozier, based on the novel by the same by Henry Morton Robinson. The ...
, Melanchthon, and Dürer's final major work, a drawn portrait of the Nuremberg patrician Ulrich Starck, Dürer depicted the sitters in profile.
Despite complaining of his lack of a formal classical education, Dürer was greatly interested in intellectual matters and learned much from Willibald Pirckheimer, whom he no doubt consulted on the content of many of his images. He also derived great satisfaction from his friendships and correspondence with Erasmus and other scholars. Dürer succeeded in producing two books during his lifetime. ''The Four Books on Measurement'' were published at Nuremberg in 1525 and was the first book for adults on
mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
in German,
as well as being cited later by
Galileo
Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
and
Kepler
Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of p ...
. The other, a work on city fortifications, was published in 1527. ''The Four Books on Human Proportion'' were published posthumously, shortly after his death in 1528.
Dürer died in Nuremberg at the age of 56, leaving an estate valued at 6,874 florins – a considerable sum. He is buried in the Johannisfriedhof cemetery.
His large house (purchased in 1509 from the heirs of the astronomer
Bernhard Walther), where his workshop was located and where his widow lived until her death in 1539, remains a prominent Nuremberg landmark.
Dürer and the Reformation
Dürer's writings suggest that he may have been sympathetic to Luther's ideas, though it is unclear if he ever left the Catholic Church. Dürer wrote of his desire to draw Luther in his diary in 1520: "And God help me that I may go to Dr. Martin Luther; thus I intend to make a portrait of him with great care and engrave him on a copper plate to create a lasting memorial of the Christian man who helped me overcome so many difficulties." In a letter to
Nicholas Kratzer in 1524, Dürer wrote, "because of our Christian faith we have to stand in scorn and danger, for we are reviled and called heretics". Most tellingly, Pirckheimer wrote in a letter to Johann Tscherte in 1530: "I confess that in the beginning I believed in Luther, like our Albert of blessed memory ... but as anyone can see, the situation has become worse." Dürer may even have contributed to the Nuremberg City Council's mandating Lutheran sermons and services in March 1525. Notably, Dürer had contacts with various reformers, such as
Zwingli,
Andreas Karlstadt, Melanchthon, Erasmus and
Cornelius Grapheus from whom Dürer received Luther's ''
Babylonian Captivity
The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile was the period in Jewish history during which a large number of Judeans from the ancient Kingdom of Judah were forcibly relocated to Babylonia by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. The deportations occurred ...
'' in 1520. Yet Erasmus and C. Grapheus are better said to be Catholic change agents. Also, from 1525, "the year that saw the peak and collapse of the
Peasants' War, the artist can be seen to distance himself somewhat from the
utheranmovement..."
However, Dürer's later works have also been claimed to show
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
sympathies. His 1523 ''
The Last Supper'' woodcut has often been understood to have an
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
theme, focusing as it does on Christ espousing the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
, as well as the inclusion of the
Eucharistic
The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
cup, perhaps alluding to tenets of Protestant
utraquism, although this interpretation has been questioned. The delaying of the engraving of
St. Philip, completed in 1523 but not distributed until 1526, may have been due to Dürer's uneasiness with images of saints; even if Dürer was not an
iconoclast, in his last years he evaluated and questioned the role of art in religion.
Theoretical works
In all his theoretical works, in order to communicate his theories in the
German language
German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...
rather than in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
, Dürer used graphic expressions based on a
vernacular
Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
, craftsmen's language. For example, ("snail-line") was his term for a spiral form. Thus, Dürer contributed to the expansion in German prose which Luther had begun with his translation of the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
.
[Panofsky (1945).]
''Four Books on Measurement''
Dürer's work on
geometry
Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...
is called the ''Four Books on Measurement'' (''Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt'' or ''Instructions for Measuring with
Compass
A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
and Ruler''). The first book focuses on linear geometry. Dürer's geometric constructions include
helices
A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smoothness (mathematics), smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as ...
,
conchoids and
epicycloids. He also draws on
Apollonius
Apollonius () is a masculine given name which may refer to:
People Ancient world Artists
* Apollonius of Athens (sculptor) (fl. 1st century BC)
* Apollonius of Tralles (fl. 2nd century BC), sculptor
* Apollonius (satyr sculptor)
* Apo ...
, and
Johannes Werner's of 1522.
The second book moves onto two-dimensional geometry, i.e. the construction of regular
polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain.
The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
s. Here Dürer favours the methods of
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
over
Euclid
Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...
. The third book applies these principles of geometry to architecture, engineering and
typography
Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...
. In architecture Dürer cites
Vitruvius
Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...
but elaborates his own classical designs and
columns. In typography, Dürer depicts the geometric construction of the
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...
, relying on
Italian precedent. However, his construction of the
Gothic alphabet
The Gothic alphabet is an alphabet for writing the Gothic language. It was developed in the 4th century AD by Ulfilas (or Wulfila), a Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent, for the purpose of translating the Bible.
The alphabet e ...
is based upon an entirely different
modular system. The fourth book completes the progression of the first and second by moving to three-dimensional forms and the construction of
polyhedra
In geometry, a polyhedron (: polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional figure with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. The term "polyhedron" may refer either to a solid figure or to its boundary su ...
. Here Dürer discusses the five
Platonic solid
In geometry, a Platonic solid is a Convex polytope, convex, regular polyhedron in three-dimensional space, three-dimensional Euclidean space. Being a regular polyhedron means that the face (geometry), faces are congruence (geometry), congruent (id ...
s, as well as seven
Archimedean semi-regular solids, as well as several of his own invention.
''Four Books on Human Proportion''
Dürer's work on
human proportions is called the ''Four Books on Human Proportion'' (''Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion'') of 1528. The first book was mainly composed by 1512/13 and completed by 1523, showing five differently constructed types of both male and female figures, all parts of the body expressed in fractions of the total height. Dürer based these constructions on both
Vitruvius
Vitruvius ( ; ; –70 BC – after ) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled . As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissan ...
and empirical observations of "two to three hundred living persons",
in his own words. The second book includes eight further types, broken down not into fractions but an
Albertian system, which Dürer probably learned from
Francesco di Giorgio's of 1525. In the third book, Dürer gives principles by which the proportions of the figures can be modified, including the mathematical simulation of
convex
Convex or convexity may refer to:
Science and technology
* Convex lens, in optics
Mathematics
* Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points
** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points
** Convex polytop ...
and
concave mirror
A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting surface. The surface may be either ''convex'' (bulging outward) or ''concave'' (recessed inward). Most curved mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are ...
s; here Dürer also deals with human
physiognomy
Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...
. The fourth book is devoted to the theory of movement.
[Schaar, Eckhard. "A Newly Discovered Proportional Study by Dürer in Hamburg". ''Master Drawings'', vol. 36, no. 1, 1998. pp. 59–66. ]
Appended to the last book, however, is a self-contained essay on aesthetics, which Dürer worked on between 1512 and 1528, and it is here that we learn of his theories concerning 'ideal beauty'. Dürer rejected Alberti's concept of an objective beauty, proposing a relativist notion of beauty based on variety. Nonetheless, Dürer still believed that truth was hidden within nature, and that there were rules which ordered beauty, even though he found it difficult to define the criteria for such a code. In 1512/13 his three criteria were function ("Nutz"), naïve approval ("Wohlgefallen") and the happy medium ("Mittelmass"). However, unlike Alberti and
Leonardo, Dürer was most troubled by understanding not just the abstract notions of beauty but also as to how an artist can create beautiful images. Between 1512 and the final draft in 1528, Dürer's belief developed from an understanding of human creativity as spontaneous or
inspired to a concept of 'selective inward synthesis'.
In other words, that an artist builds on a wealth of visual experiences in order to imagine beautiful things. Dürer's belief in the abilities of a single artist over inspiration prompted him to assert that "one man may sketch something with his pen on half a sheet of paper in one day, or may cut it into a tiny piece of wood with his little iron, and it turns out to be better and more artistic than another's work at which its author labours with the utmost diligence for a whole year".
File:AlbrechtDürer01.jpg, Title page of ''Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion'' showing the monogram
A monogram is a motif (visual arts), motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbo ...
signature of artist
File:Durer foot.jpg, Dürer often used multiview orthographic projection
In technical drawing and computer graphics, a multiview projection is a technique of illustration by which a standardized series of orthographic projection, orthographic two-dimensional pictures are constructed to represent the form of a three-d ...
s.
File:Durer face transforms.jpg, Dürer's study of human proportions
''Book on Fortification''
In 1527, Dürer also published ''Various Lessons on the Fortification of Cities, Castles, and Localities'' (''Etliche Underricht zu Befestigung der Stett, Schloss und Flecken''). It was printed in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...
, probably by Hieronymus Andreae and reprinted in 1603 by Johan Janssenn in
Arnhem
Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...
. In 1535 it was also translated into Latin as ''On Cities, Forts, and Castles, Designed and Strengthened by Several Manners: Presented for the Most Necessary Accommodation of War'' (''De vrbibus, arcibus, castellisque condendis, ac muniendis rationes aliquot : praesenti bellorum necessitati accommodatissimae''), published by Christian Wechel (Wecheli/Wechelus) in Paris.
Fencing
Dürer created many sketches and woodcuts of soldiers and knights over the course of his life. His most significant martial works, however, were made in 1512 as part of his efforts to secure the patronage of Maximilian I. Using existing manuscripts from the ''Nuremberg Group'' as his reference, his workshop produced the extensive ''Οπλοδιδασκαλια sive Armorvm Tractandorvm Meditatio Alberti Dvreri'' ("Weapon Training, or Albrecht Dürer's Meditation on the Handling of Weapons", MS 26-232). Another manuscript based on the Nuremberg texts as well as one of Hans Talhoffer's works, the untitled ''Berlin Picture Book'' (Libr.Pict.A.83), is also thought to have originated in his workshop around this time. These sketches and watercolours show the same careful attention to detail and human proportion as Dürer's other work, and his illustrations of grappling, long sword, dagger, and
messer are among the highest-quality in any fencing manual.
Legacy and influence
Dürer exerted a huge influence on the artists of succeeding generations, especially in printmaking, the medium through which his contemporaries mostly experienced his art, as his paintings were predominantly in private collections located in only a few cities. His success in spreading his reputation across Europe through prints was undoubtedly an inspiration for major artists such as Raphael,
Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
, and
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, ...
, all of whom collaborated with printmakers to promote and distribute their work.
His engravings seem to have had an intimidating effect upon his German successors; the "
Little Masters
The Little Masters ("Kleinmeister" in German language, German), were a group of German printmakers who worked in the first half of the 16th century, primarily in engraving. They specialized in very small finely detailed old master print, prints, s ...
" who attempted few large engravings but continued Dürer's themes in small, rather cramped compositions.
Lucas van Leyden was the only Northern European engraver to successfully continue to produce large engravings in the first third of the 16th century. The generation of Italian engravers who trained in the shadow of Dürer all either directly copied parts of his landscape backgrounds (
Giulio Campagnola,
Giovanni Battista Palumba,
Benedetto Montagna and
Cristofano Robetta), or whole prints (
Marcantonio Raimondi and
Agostino Veneziano). However, Dürer's influence became less dominant after 1515, when Marcantonio perfected his new engraving style, which in turn travelled over the Alps to also dominate Northern engraving.
Dürer had relatively little influence in Italy, where probably only his altarpiece in Venice was seen, and his German successors were less effective in blending German and Italian styles. His intense and self-dramatizing self-portraits have continued to have a strong influence up to the present, especially on painters in the 19th and 20th century who desired a more dramatic portrait style. Dürer has never fallen from critical favour, and there have been significant revivals of interest in his works in Germany in the ''Dürer Renaissance'' of about 1570 to 1630, in the early nineteenth century, and in German
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
from 1870 to 1945.
The
Lutheran Church
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...
commemorates Dürer annually on 6 April, along with
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
,
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder ( ; – 16 October 1553) was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving. He was court painter to the Electors of Saxony for most of his career, and is known for his portraits, both of German ...
and
Hans Burgkmair.
In 1993, two of Dürer's drawings – ''Women's Bathhouse'', valued at about $10 million, and ''Sitting Mary With Child'' – along with other works of art were
stolen from the
National Art Museum of Azerbaijan. The drawings were later recovered.
Gallery
File:Albrecht Dürer 012.jpg, ''St Jerome in the Wilderness'', , oil on pearwood, 23.1 × 17.4 cm, National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London (NG6563)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Jesus among the Doctors - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Christ Among the Doctors'', 1506, oil on poplar, 64.3 × 80.3 cm, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (, ; named after its founder, Baron Heinrich Thyssen, Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Museo del Prado, Prado Museum on one of the city ...
, Madrid (134 (1934.38)
File:Dürer, Albrecht - Marter der zehntausend Christen - KHM.jpg, '' Martyrdom of the Ten Thousand'', 1508, oil from wood transferred to canvas, 99 × 87 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum
The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...
, Wien (GG 835)
Albrecht Dürer, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie - Allerheiligenbild ("Landauer Altar") - GG 838 - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg, '' Adoration of the Trinity (Landauer Altar)'', 1511, oil on poplar, 135 × 123.4 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum (GG 838). The framework is a reconstruction of his design.
File:1490 Duerer Bildnis von Barbara Duerer geb. Holper anagoria.JPG, ''Portrait of Dürer’s Mother Barbara, née Holper'', 1490, oil on fir wood, 47.2 × 35.7 cm, Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...
Nuremberg (Gm 1160)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Ritratto del padre - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Albrecht Dürer the Elder with a Rosary'', 1490, oil on panel, 47.5 × 39.5 cm, Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery ( ; , ) is a prominent art museum adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of th ...
, Florence
File:Albrecht Dürer - Portrait of Oswolt Krel - WGA6934.jpg, ''Portrait of Oswolt Krel'', 1499, oil on limewood, 49.6 × 39 cm, Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pin ...
, München. Krel was a merchant from Lindau
Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...
.
File:Albrecht Dürer - Bildnis einer jungen Venezianerin - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman,'' 1506, oil on poplar, 28.5 × 21.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (557G). The abstract background suggests the sea.
File:Albrecht Dürer - Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Portrait of Bernhard von Reesen'', 1521, 45.5 × 31.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
The (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance painting, Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch Golden Age painting, Dutch and F ...
, Dresden (1871)
File:Dürer - Hieronymus Holzschuher (1469-1529) mit Deckel, 1526, 557E.jpg , '' Portrait of Hieronymus Holzschuher'', 1526, oil and paint on limewood, 51 × 37 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (557E)
File:Innsbruck castle courtyard.jpg, ''Innsbruck Castle Courtyard'', , watercolour and gouache, 36.8 × 26.9 cm, Albertina, Vienna (3057)
File:Vue du val d'Arco dans le Tyrol méridional - Musée du Louvre Arts graphiques INV 18579, Recto.jpg, ''View of the Arco Valley'' in Tyrol
Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...
, 1495, watercolour with highlights, 22.3 × 22.2 cm, Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, Paris
File:Albrecht Dürer - Der Weiher im Walde (ca. 1497).jpg, ''Landscape with a Woodland Pool,'' , watercolour and gouache, 26.2 × 35.6 cm, British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, London
File:Albrecht Dürer - Der Flügel einer Blauracke (ca. 1500).jpg, '' Wing of a European Roller,'' ("1512" by later hand), watercolour and gouache on parchment, 19.6 × 20 cm, Albertina (4840)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Mary among a Multitude of Animals, c. 1503 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Mary among a Multitude of Animals'', , dark brown ink and watercolour, 31,9 × 24,1 cm, Albertina (3066)
File:Albrecht Dürer, Tuft of Cowslips, 1526, NGA 74162.jpg, ''Tuft of Cowslips'', 1526, gouache on vellum
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellu ...
, 19.3 × 16.8 cm, National Gallery of Art
File:Dürer - Académie de femme debout, de dos, la main sur une hampe d'où part un voile, INV 19058, Recto.jpg, ''Study of a Female Nude from Behind'', 1495, brush and pen on paper, 31.6 × 21.2 cm, Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, Paris (INV 19058 R)
File:Dürer - Liegender weiblicher Akt, 1501.png, ''Reclining Nude'', 1501, brush and pen(?) w/ highlights and construction lines, 16.9 × 21.8 cm, Albertina (3072)
File:Dürer - Trois têtes d'enfants, btv1b100248711.jpeg, ''Three Children's Heads'', 1506, pen and ink on blue paper with highlights in gouache, 21,8 × 37,9 cm, Bibliothèque nationale de France
The (; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites, ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository of all that is published in France. Some of its extensive collections, including bo ...
, Paris
File:Albrecht Dürer - Selbstbildnis als Akt. (Weimar).jpg, ''Self-Portrait in the Nude'', , pen and brush, black ink with white lead on green prepared paper, 29 × 15 cm, Klassik Stiftung Weimar (KK106)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Barbara Dürer, die Mutter des Künstlers (1514).jpg, ''Portrait of the Artist's Mother at the Age of 63'', spring 1514, charcoal on paper, 42.2 × 30.6 cm, Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (KdZ 22)
File:Albrecht Dürer - Head of an Old Man, 1521 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Head of an 93-Year-Old Man'', 1521, brush, ink, heightened w/ gouache, on gray-violet prepared paper, 41.5 × 28.2 cm, Albertina (3167). Study for the St. Jerome
File:Albrecht Dürer Druckplatte Christus am Ölberg.jpg, ''Christ on the Mount of Olives'', 1515, the only surviving printing plate, iron, 22.7 × 16.1 cm, Bamberg State Library
File:Albrecht Dürer, Nemesis (The Great Fortune), c. 1501-1502, NGA 6603.jpg, ''Nemesis (The Great Fortune)'', /02, 33.5 × 23.3 cm (National Gallery of Art)
File:Saint Christopher Facing Left MET DP815920.jpg, ''St. Christopher'', 1521, 11.6 × 7.4 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
File:Willibald Pirckheimer MET DP815931.jpg, ''Portrait of Willibald Pirckheimer'', 1524, 19 × 12.4 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
File:Landscape with a Large Cannon MET MM7867.jpg, ''The Cannon'', 1518, etching, 21.7 × 32 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
File:The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine MET MM30203.jpg, ''The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine'', , carved pearwood block, 39.4 × 28.3 × 2.6 cm, MET, New York
File:Albrecht Dürer, The Flagellation, c. 1497, NGA 6736.jpg, ''The Flagellation'', from the '' Great Passion'', , 39 × 28 cm, (printed , National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
)
File:Albrecht Dürer, The Four Horsemen, 1498, NGA 142352.jpg, ''Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'', 1498, 39.5 × 28.5 cm (NGA, 142352)
File:Albrecht Dürer - The Expulsion from Paradise (NGA 1943.3.3634).jpg, ''The Expulsion from Paradise'' from the ''Small Passion'', 1510, 12.5 × 9.8 cm (NGA)
File:Coat of Arms of Albrecht Dürer MET DP816462.jpg, Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
, which features a door as a pun on his name, and the winged bust of a Moor (1523), 35.1 × 26.1 cm (MET)
List of works
*
List of paintings by Albrecht Dürer
*
List of engravings by Albrecht Dürer
*
List of woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*Bartrum, Giulia. ''Albrecht Dürer and His Legacy''. London: British Museum Press, 2002.
*
Brand Philip, Lotte;
Anzelewsky, Fedja. "The Portrait Diptych of Dürer's parents". ''Simiolus: Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art'', Volume 10, No. 1, 1978–79, pp. 5–18.
*
Brion, Marcel. ''Dürer''. London:
Thames and Hudson, 1960
*
Harbison, Craig. "Dürer and the Reformation: The Problem of the Re-dating of the ''St. Philip'' Engraving". ''The Art Bulletin'', Vol. 58, No. 3, September 1976, pp. 368–373.
*
Koerner, Joseph Leo. ''The Moment of Self-Portraiture in German Renaissance Art''. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 1993. .
*Landau David; Parshall, Peter. ''The Renaissance Print''. Yale, 1996. .
*
Panofsky, Erwin.
The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer'. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1945.
*Price, David Hotchkiss. ''Albrecht Dürer's Renaissance: Humanism, Reformation and the Art of Faith''. Michigan, 2003. .
*Strauss, Walter L. (ed.). ''The Complete Engravings, Etchings and Drypoints of Albrecht Durer''. Mineola NY:
Dover Publications
Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...
, 1973.
*
Borchert, Till-Holger. ''Van Eyck to Dürer: The Influence of Early Netherlandish painting on European Art, 1430–1530''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2011.
*Wolf, Norbert. ''Albrecht Dürer''. Cologne: Taschen, 2010.
*
Further reading
*
Brahms, Iris. ''Zwischen Licht und Schatten. Zur Tradition der Farbgrundzeichnung bis Albrecht Dürer''. Wilhelm Fink Verlag, Paderborn 2016, .
*Campbell Hutchison, Jane. ''Albrecht Dürer: A Biography''. Princeton University Press, 1990. .
*Demele, Christine. ''Dürers Nacktheit – Das Weimarer Selbstbildnis.'' Rhema Verlag, Münster 2012, .
*Dürer, Albrecht, ''Of the Just Shaping of Letters'', translated by R.T. Nichol from the Latin text, Dover Publ., New York 1965. .
*
*
*Korolija Fontana-Giusti, Gordana. "The Unconscious and Space: Venice and the Work of Albrecht Dürer", in ''Architecture and the Unconscious'', eds. J. Hendrix and L.Holm, Farnham Surrey: Ashgate, 2016, pp. 27–44, .
*Schmidt, Sebastian. "'dan sӳ machten dy vürtrefflichen künstner reich'. Zur ursprünglichen Bestimmung von Albrecht Dürers Selbstbildnis im Pelzrock", in ''
Anzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums'' 2010, pp. 65–82, .
*Wilhelm, Kurth (ed.). ''The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Durer'', Dover Publications, 2000, .
External links
*
''The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer'' at the
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 14 November 2010 – 13 March 2011
Dürer Prints Close-upon
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, made to accompany ''The Strange World of Albrecht Dürer.''
Albrecht Dürer: ''Vier Bücher von menschlicher Proportion'' (Nuremberg, 1528)from the original work. Historical Anatomies on the Web.
US National Library of Medicine.
*
*
The Early Duerer Research Projectof the
Germanisches Nationalmuseum
The ''Germanisches Nationalmuseum'' is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The museum is Germany' ...
Nuremberg, with a comprehensive bibliography since 1971 (German).
"Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)".In ''Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History''. New York:
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
*
''Albrecht Dürer,'' exhibition, Albertina, Vienna 20 September 2019 – 6 January 2020.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durer, Albrecht
1471 births
1528 deaths
15th-century German engravers
15th-century German painters
16th-century German engravers
16th-century German painters
German animal artists
Artist authors
Artists from Nuremberg
Catholic decorative artists
Catholic engravers
Catholic painters
German draughtsmen
German Lutherans
German male painters
German manuscript illuminators
German people of Hungarian descent
German printmakers
German Renaissance painters
German Roman Catholics
Heraldic artists
Mathematical artists
People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar
Renaissance engravers
Woodcut designers